Category Archives: Left watch

Reclaiming academia: understanding the student movement of our time: Tony Kurian and Suraj Gogoi

This is a guest post by TONY KURIAN and SURAJ GOGOI

Students from different parts of the country started protesting since a Dalit student from one of the premier universities of the country (University of Hyderabad) committed suicide on account of caste discrimination by the administration. This new wave of protests can be traced back to Occupy UGC which erupted when University Grants Commission (UGC) decided to stop the monthly research stipend known as non-net fellowship of Rs 5000 and 8000 for MPhil and PHD respectively. The ministry concerned has since constituted a panel to review the decision on account of student’s protests. On the other hand, we are seeing India becoming part of World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on higher education. These instances should not be regarded as isolated moments but should be viewed as an integral part of a story unfolding. It is in this context that one should locate the student movement of our time. The movement itself is receiving much media attention, and, it was mostly couched as a student’s movement against the government. For sure, the immediate demands of the students is to ensure justice to Rohith Vemula. The present wave of student movement is aimed at reclaiming academia both from an exclusivist culture which permeates much of our academic institutions, and increasing influence of free market logic in our higher education.

 Why are we seeing a new wave of student protests?

To understand why a movement like that we are witnessing now is extremely important for a vibrant and democratic academic space, we should explore some of the unwritten rules of academia itself and our academic institutions. Research is a long-term investment for the person who undertakes it. Every day he or she spends as a full time researcher is a day forgone from the job market. For a research scholar to earn a permanent job, it can take anywhere between five to ten years after the master’s programme.

Continue reading Reclaiming academia: understanding the student movement of our time: Tony Kurian and Suraj Gogoi

Saluting Rohith Vemula on Republic Day: Meena Kandasamy and Ravichandran Bathran

Meena Kandasamy in The Hindu:

Rohith, you have left behind your dream of becoming a science writer like Carl Sagan, and left us with only your words. Each of our words now carries the weight of your death, every tear carries your unrealised dream. We will become the explosive stardust that you speak of, the stardust that will singe this oppressive system of caste. Within every university, every college, every school in this country, each of our slogans will carry the spirit of your struggle. Dr. Ambedkar spoke of caste as the monster that crosses ones path every way one turns, and within the agraharams that are the Indian educational institutions, our very physical presence must embody the message of caste annihilation. Let every despicable casteist force wince when they encounter a Dalit, a Shudra, an Adivasi, a Bahujan, a woman staking claim within academia, let them realise that we have come here to end a system that has kept trying hard to put an end to us, that we have come here to cause nightmares to those who dared to snatch our dreams. Let them realise that Vedic times, the era of pouring molten lead into the ears of the Shudras who hear the sacred texts, the era of cutting the tongues of those who dared to utter the knowledge that was denied to them, are long gone. Let them understand that we have stormed these bastions to educate, to agitate, to organise; we did not come here to die. We have come to learn, but let the monsters of caste and their henchmen bear in mind that we have come here also to teach them an unforgettable lesson.

Read the rest of this tribute here.

RAVICHANDRAN BATHRAN in Tehelka

A person who is conscious of and sensitive about caste discrimination is certain to become alienated in every psychological, emotional, social and political sense in today’s campuses that breed free-market-loving, reservation hating students who benefit from caste-intensive social networks. This is why the Dalit and anti-caste students’ movement is crucial in democratising our campuses. These outfits question the present, past and future of the society we live in. They may be few in number and not always successful, but their actions are solely committed to the welfare of Dalit students as they have no other support system in our campuses. I am proud to say that many like me are the product of such movements in the universities.

Read the whole article here

Before I Speak of the Stars…Ravi Sinha

Guest Post by Ravi Sinha

Let me speak first of Rohith Chakravarthi Vemula. I never met him. I wish I had, although that would have made me hardly any worthier of speaking about him. Had I met him, I would have come to know that I shared with him a passion for science, nature and stars. I would like to think that he would have found in me, despite my being from another generation, a comrade-in-arms and a fellow campaigner for a better world. Perhaps I would have also recognized a few of the scars left over from a childhood spent in poverty. But, there, the similarities would have ended.

We were born in the same country but at two different locations in the social universe. Distances separating these locations are not traversable – reason enough for this universe to collapse. Instead collapsed this remarkable young man who longed to be “treated as a mind” – “a glorious thing made up of stardust” – and who did not wish to be “reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility…to a vote…to a number…to a thing”. He was crushed under the weight of a millennial civilization. His end was precipitated by the malignant political forces ready to use state power to banish all reason and every shred of freedom from modern institutions and public sphere. He may have chosen the mode and the time of his death but it was an instance of a death foretold. In choosing death he has challenged the powers-that-be in a manner and with a force that no demons of deception, no army of liars and no battery of ministers can defend against. Continue reading Before I Speak of the Stars…Ravi Sinha

മണ്ണാങ്കട്ടയും വേണ്ട, കരിയിലയും വേണ്ട: ഷഫീക്കിന് ഒരു തുറന്ന കത്ത്

പ്രിയ ഷഫീക്ക്

 

ഈയാഴ്ചത്തെ മാതൃഭൂമി ആഴ്ചപ്പതിപ്പു കണ്ടപ്പോൾ നിങ്ങൾക്ക് ഇങ്ങനെ ഒരു കത്ത് എഴുതണമെന്നു തോന്നി. സത്യത്തിൽ ഈ ലക്കം ആദ്യം മറിച്ചുനോക്കിയപ്പോൾ പത്രമിടുന്നയാൾക്ക് തെറ്റുപറ്റി ദേശാഭിമാനി വാരിക കൊണ്ടിട്ടോ എന്നു സംശയിച്ചു പോയി. എന്നാൽ സാവധാനം വായിച്ചപ്പോൾ ഒരു കാര്യം പിടികിട്ടി – ഈ ലക്കത്തിലെ താരം മറ്റാരുമല്ല, താങ്കൾ തന്നെ. പച്ചയ്ക്കങ്ങു പറഞ്ഞില്ലെങ്കിലും ഇന്ന് മാനവ-അമാനവസംഗമവക്താക്കൾ ഒരുപോലെ ഭയപ്പെടുന്ന വ്യക്തി ഷഫീക്കാണ്.

അത് നല്ലതോ എന്നെനിക്ക് തിട്ടമില്ല, പക്ഷേ എന്തായാലും ചീത്തയല്ല. അവിടെയും ചില പ്രധാനപ്പെട്ട വ്യത്യാസങ്ങളുണ്ട്. മാനവസംഗമപ്രവർത്തകർ നിങ്ങളുയർത്തിയ പ്രതിഷേധത്തെ മറച്ചുകളയുകയോ അമാനവരുടെ വശത്തേയ്ക്ക് പരോക്ഷമായി തള്ളുകയോ ചെയ്തപ്പോൾ അമാനവസംഗമപ്രമുഖൻ താങ്കളെ തിരിച്ചറിവു കുറഞ്ഞ ഒരു പാവമാക്കി. അഭിനന്ദനങ്ങൾ. നാം ജീവിക്കുന്ന ഈ കാലങ്ങളിൽ സർവ്വസമ്മതരാകുന്നതല്ല രാഷ്ട്രീയസർഗ്ഗാത്മകതയുടെ ലക്ഷണം. വിഷമപ്രശ്നങ്ങൾ ഉന്നയിക്കാനുള്ള കഴിവാണ് അതിനാവശ്യം. അതുള്ളതുകൊണ്ടാണ് നിങ്ങളെ പലവിധത്തിൽ പുറന്തള്ളാൻ മാനവരും അമാനവരും ഇത്ര തിടുക്കപ്പെടുന്നത്.

എ എം ഷിനാസും എൻ പി ജോൺസണും കെ കെ ബാബുരാജും തമ്മിലുള്ള വ്യത്യാസങ്ങളെ അവഗണിക്കുന്നില്ല. ഷിനാസ് ക്രിസ്റ്റഫർ ഹിച്ചൻസിൻറെ നാടൻ പതിപ്പായാണ് ആഴ്ചപ്പതിപ്പിൽ അവതരിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നതെങ്കിൽ (ഐജാസ് അഹമ്മദ് പറഞ്ഞതുകൊണ്ടു മാത്രം ഇസ്ലാമോഫാസിസം എന്ന പദത്തിൻറെ അർത്ഥസൂചനകൾ നിരുപദ്രവകരമാകുന്നില്ല) ജോൺസൺ ഇരുപത്തിയൊന്നാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിൻറെ സാഹചര്യങ്ങളിൽ സ്ത്രീവിമോചനദൌത്യമേറ്റെടുത്ത കേരളീയനായ പുരുഷ സാമൂഹ്യപരിഷ്ക്കർത്താവാണ്. ബാബുരാജാകട്ടെ, ഇവരുടെ ബദ്ധവൈരിയായാണ് പ്രത്യക്ഷപ്പെടുന്നത്. നിങ്ങൾ പക്ഷേ മൂന്നുപേർക്കും ഒരുപോലെ ശല്യക്കാരനാണ്.
ഈ മൂന്നു ബുദ്ധിജീവികളും ഇരുപതാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിലെ മലയാളപുരുഷബുദ്ധിജീവിയുടെ പല സ്വഭാവങ്ങളും പ്രദർശിപ്പിക്കുന്നുവെന്നും വ്യക്തം. ഫാസിസത്തെ ഇരപിടിയൻ-ശിങ്കിടി മുതലാളിത്തത്തോടും ന്യൂനപക്ഷ മതസ്വത്വങ്ങളോടും കീഴ്ജാതിസ്വത്വങ്ങളോടും അവർക്കിഷ്ടമില്ലാത്ത മിക്കതിനോടും, കാര്യമായ സാധൂകരണമൊന്നും കൂടാതെ ബന്ധിപ്പിക്കുന്നൂ മാനവപക്ഷക്കാർ. ഈ പ്രതിഭാസങ്ങളെക്കുറിച്ച് ഇന്ന് നിലവിലുള്ള അതിബൃഹത്തായ പഠനസാഹിത്യത്തെ ആഴത്തിൽ സ്പർശിക്കാൻ മെനെക്കെടാതെ, മറുപക്ഷത്തെ ലളിതവത്കൃത കോമാളിഛായകളാക്കി താഴ്ത്തുന്നതിൽ ലേശവും മടി കാട്ടാതെ, തങ്ങളുടെ ബോദ്ധ്യങ്ങൾ വായനക്കാരുടെ മുന്നിൽ വീശിയെറിയുന്നൂ അവർ. ചുംബനസമരത്തിലെ അസൌകര്യകരമായ വിശദാംശങ്ങളെയും ശബ്ദങ്ങളെയും പച്ചയ്ക്കു തന്നെ ഒഴിവാക്കി തനിക്കുതകുന്ന വിധത്തിൽ ആ സമരത്തിൻറെ ചിത്രം ചമയ്ക്കാൻ മറ്റൊരാൾക്ക് തെല്ലും മടിയില്ല. തങ്ങളുടെ ആന്തരിക’പരിശുദ്ധി’യെ ചോദ്യം ചെയ്യാനിടയുള്ള ഒന്നിനെയും വെച്ചുപൊറുപ്പിക്കില്ലെന്ന ശാഠ്യവും ഇരുകൂട്ടരിലും ഒരുപോലെ ശക്തം തന്നെ. വളരെ തയ്യാറെടുപ്പുകളൊന്നും കൂടാതെ തങ്ങളുടെ ബൌദ്ധിക ‘ഭീരങ്കികൾ’ നിറയൊഴിച്ച് സർവ്വരേയും വിറപ്പിക്കാൻ ഇവർക്ക് കഴിയുന്നതിനു പിന്നിൽ ആ മലയാളി (ആൺ) റാഡിക്കൽ ജീനിയസ് അവബോധം തന്നയല്ലേ എന്നു സംശയിച്ചു പോകുന്നു. അത്തരം തയ്യാറെടുപ്പു നടത്തിയിരുന്നെങ്കിൽ ഫാസിസത്തെയും മതത്തെയും സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തെയും അങ്ങനെ പലതിനെയും പറ്റി ഇവർ നടത്തുന്ന ലളിതപ്രസ്താവങ്ങൾ ഇവരുടെ ഉള്ളിൽത്തന്നെ ജന്മമെടുക്കില്ലായിരുന്നു. ഉദാരവാദചിന്തയുടെ ഉച്ചകോടിയിൽ പിറന്ന പിതൃമേധാവിത്വപരമായ ആശയമാണ് ‘പ്രതിഭാശാലി’ എന്നത്. ഗവേഷണപരമായ തയ്യാറെടുപ്പുകൾ കൂടാതെ (അല്ലെങ്കിൽ തങ്ങൾക്ക് സൌകര്യപ്രദമായ പഠനസാഹിത്യത്തെ മാത്രം ആശ്രയിച്ച്, മറ്റുള്ളവയെ ന്യായമായ രീതിയിൽ അഭിസംബോധന ചെയ്യാൻ കൂട്ടാക്കാതെ) ‘ഉൾ-കാഴ്ചകൾ’ തട്ടിവിടുന്ന മലയാളിപുരുഷപൊതുബുദ്ധിജീവികൾ അവലംബിക്കുന്നത് ആ പഴയ ജീനിയസ് മാതൃകയെത്തന്നെ. ലിബറലിസത്തെയും വ്യക്തിവാദത്തെയും വാതോരാതെ അപലപിക്കുന്ന ബാബുരാജു പോലും ജീനിയസ്നാട്യം ബലമായിപിടിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നതുകൊണ്ടാണ് ദലിത് ഫെമിനിസ്റ്റുകളുടെ ഇടപെടലുകളെ പരിഗണിക്കാൻ അദ്ദേഹത്തിനു കഴിയാത്തത്. രേഖാ രാജിൻറെ പേരു പോലും ഓർക്കാൻ അദ്ദേഹത്തിനു കഴിയാതെപോകുന്നതും അതുകൊണ്ടുതന്നെ.

ഹിന്ദുത്വഫാസിസത്തിൻറെ സദാചാരവും നവ ഇസ്ലാമികസദാചാരവും എല്ലാം ഒന്നുതന്നെയെന്ന് മാനവപക്ഷത്തിന് തീർച്ചയാണ്. എന്നാൽ അമാനവപക്ഷത്തു നിലയുറപ്പിച്ച ബാബുരാജ് പോലും പരോക്ഷമായി ഈ നിലപാടല്ലേ സ്വീകരിക്കുന്നതെന്ന് ഞാൻ സംശയിക്കുന്നു. ചുംബനസമരം പൊതുവേ ‘സദാചാര’ത്തിനെതിരെയായിരുന്നെന്ന് അദ്ദേഹം ശഠിക്കുന്നത് വസ്തുതാപരമായിപ്പോലും ശരിയല്ല. ലൈംഗികധാർമ്മികത അനാവശ്യമാണെന്നല്ല, മറിച്ച് ബ്രാഹ്മണഹിന്ദുത്വസദാചാരസമ്മർദ്ദത്തെ ചെറുക്കണമെന്നും കൂടുതൽ ജനാധിപത്യപരമായ രീതിയിൽ ലൈംഗികധാർമ്മികതയെ പുന:സൃഷ്ടിക്കണമെന്നുമാണ് ചുംബനസമരങ്ങൾ ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടത്. ഏതെങ്കിലും സദാചാരം അനീതിപൂർവിവമാണെന്നു പറഞ്ഞാൽ യാതൊരുവിധ ധാർമ്മികതയും ആവശ്യമില്ല എന്ന് അർത്ഥമാകുന്നില്ല. സദാചാരത്തെ തിരുത്തിയെഴുതാൻ ചരിത്രത്തിൽ നടന്ന സമരങ്ങളെ മുഴുവൻ സദാചാരവിരുദ്ധസമരങ്ങളായി ചിത്രീകരിച്ച് വ്യവസ്ഥാപിതസദാചാരഭീതികളെ ഇളക്കിവിടുക എന്നത് പണ്ടുപണ്ടേ ഉള്ള കാരണവതന്ത്രങ്ങളിലൊന്നാണ് – അതാണ് ബാബുരാജ് പ്രയോഗിച്ചത്.എങ്കിലും സദാചാരമെന്ന് താനെന്താണ് ഉദ്ദേശിക്കുന്നതെന്ന് വ്യക്തമാക്കാൻ അദ്ദേഹം മെനക്കെടുന്നില്ല. നമുക്കറിയാം, ആ സമരം വിമർശിച്ചതു മുഴുവൻ കേരളത്തിലിന്ന് അധീശത്വം കൈയാളുന്ന ബ്രാഹ്മണസദാചാരമൂല്യവ്യവസ്ഥയെ ആണ്. എൻറെ പരിമിതമായ വായനയിൽ ഇസ്ലാമികസദാചാരത്തെ, അല്ലെങ്കിൽ ഇസ്ലാമികസദാചാരത്തിൻറെ സാദ്ധ്യതകളെ, ബ്രാഹ്മണസദാചാരമൂല്യങ്ങളിലേക്കു ചുരുക്കാൻ കഴിയില്ലെന്നാണ് കാണുന്നത്. ഉദാഹരണത്തിന് ഇസ്ലാം ലൈംഗികാനന്ദത്തെ വെറുക്കുന്നില്ല. കുടുംബകാര്യങ്ങളിൽ സ്നേഹത്തിനു കല്പിക്കുന്ന അതേ പ്രാധാന്യം നീതിയ്ക്കും കല്പിക്കുന്നു. വിവാഹത്തെ അനാവശ്യമായി പവിത്രീകരിക്കുന്നില്ല. പുരുഷാധികാരപരമായ വായനകൾക്കാണ്, അവിടെ മുൻതൂക്കമെന്ന് സമ്മതിക്കാം, പക്ഷേ ബ്രാഹ്മണസദാചാരവും എക്കാലത്തും ആവിധം തന്നെയായിരുന്നു. ബ്രാഹ്മണസദാചാരത്തിനില്ലാത്ത സാദ്ധ്യതകൾ ഇസ്ലാമികലൈംഗികധാർമ്മികതയ്ക്കുണ്ടായേക്കാം എന്നതുകൊണ്ടുതന്നെ അതിനെ ബ്രാഹ്മണസദാചാരത്തിലേക്ക് ചുരുക്കുന്നത് തീരെ ആശാസ്യമല്ല.

ഒന്നുകിൽ ബാബുരാജിന് അതു കാണാൻ താത്പര്യമില്ല; അല്ലെങ്കിൽ ഇന്ന് കേരളത്തിലെ നവ ഇസ്ലാംപക്ഷങ്ങൾ ഉന്നയിക്കുന്ന ലൈംഗികധാർമ്മികതയും ഹിന്ദുത്വ-ബ്രാഹ്മണലൈംഗികധാർമ്മികതയും മൂർത്തരൂപത്തിൽ ഒന്നുതന്നെ എന്നദ്ദേഹം സൂചിപ്പിക്കുന്നു! ഇസ്ലാംലൈംഗികാനന്ദത്തെ വെറുക്കാത്തതുകൊണ്ട് ചുംബനസമരക്കാരുന്നയിച്ച പുതിയ ലൈംഗികധാർമ്മികതയോട് അതിനാണ് (അതിൻറെ പുരുഷാധികാരവ്യാഖ്യാനങ്ങളെ കണക്കിലെടുത്താൽ പോലും) കൂടുതൽ അടുപ്പം.അത്തരം സംവാദങ്ങൾ ഉണ്ടാകാതെ ബ്രാഹ്മണസദാചാരത്തെ സംരക്ഷിച്ചുനിർത്തി എന്നതാണ് ചുംബനസമരവിരുദ്ധപ്രചരണത്തിലൂടെ ബാബുരാജ് നടത്തിയ ചരിത്രസംഭാവന. എന്തായാലും ഇക്കാര്യത്തിൽ ഈ മൂന്നു ബുദ്ധിജീവികളും പ്രത്യക്ഷമോ പരോക്ഷമോ ആയ നിലകളിൽ ഒറ്റക്കെട്ടാണ്.

ആധുനികസ്വാതന്ത്ര്യങ്ങളെ പറ്റി, വിശേഷിച്ചും ലിംഗതുല്യത, ലൈംഗികതെരെഞ്ഞെടുപ്പുകൾ എന്നിവയെപ്പറ്റി, സംശയാലുക്കളായ മതവിഭാഗങ്ങളെ  ആക്രമിച്ചാൽ മതി, അതു ഫാസിസ്റ്റ് വിരുദ്ധപ്പോരാട്ടമായിക്കൊള്ളുമെന്നു ധരിക്കുന്നവരും, യാഥാസ്ഥിതികസദാചാരത്തെ ആക്രമിച്ചാൽ അത് ഫാസിസത്തിനു വഴിയൊരുക്കും എന്ന് ആണയിടുന്നവരും തമ്മിലുള്ള ഈ കടിപിടിയെപ്പറ്റി എന്തു പറയാനാണ്?

മണ്ണാങ്കട്ട ഒലിച്ചു പോകും, കരിയില പൊടിഞ്ഞു പോകും. ഒടുവിൽ അവ ഒന്നുതന്നെയായിത്തീരും.

നിങ്ങൾ രണ്ടിനെയും ഭയക്കേണ്ട കാര്യമില്ല. സധൈര്യം മുന്നോട്ടു പോവുക. അഭിവാദ്യങ്ങൾ!

ജെ ദേവിക

 

More than 500 jhuggis demolished in Shakur Basti, slum dwellers left on their own to grapple with bone chilling winter.

Report by BIGUL MAZDOOR DASTA

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More than 500 jhuggis have been demolished by the Railways in Shakur Basti, Delhi. The demolition took place on last Saturday leading to the death of a six month old child, leaving many injured and an odd 10,000 people homeless in the chilling Delhi winters. The Railway minters Suresh Prabhu is allegedly shocked and unaware. Mr Kejriwal took to twitter to condemn the demolition. Ajay Maken of congress too condemned the demolition. On Monday Rahul Gandhi briefly visited the razed down site where once the shanties stood and thats that! All these electoral political parties have even made what is a tragedy and a very difficult time for the slum dwellers an opportunity of mud slinging onto each other which also doesn’t come as a surprise.

Continue reading More than 500 jhuggis demolished in Shakur Basti, slum dwellers left on their own to grapple with bone chilling winter.

We agree passionately: one world, one struggle, education is not for sale!

Dangerous Vandals, Goths and Visigoths: Students Demanding the Impossible at #OccupyUGC
Dangerous Vandals, Goths and Visigoths: Students Demanding the Impossible at #OccupyUGC

The Occupy UGC movement looks irrelevant or ridiculous to the middle and upper classes in India because it can be made to appear so by the media. Not surprisingly, television channels and leading dailies either ignored the protests altogether, or worse, focused on the apparently far more *critical* issue of the “vandalism” and “disfigurement” of the ITO metro station by the protesting students. Times of India said they were “brazening it out” after their acts of vandalism, and on social media including Kafila, these student vandals have been additionally belittled by some as misguided pawns in the hands of an apparent conglomerate of ambitious lefty professors from JNU! Basically, anything but a legitimate set of demands, some of which this poster from the movement tries to explain…

Dekh Bhai UGC
Translation: Look here UGC, if you don’t give us the scholarship, I will face marriage pressure, but you will have to face the pressure of the entire student population!!

(Incidentally, it was this image that was painted on the walls of the ITO metro station. Personally I found it cheerful).

Anyway, as Camalita Naicker reminded us in her excellent article on South Africa here on Kafila, student protests against rising student fees and shrinking scholarships and fellowships are no flash in the pan but a burgeoning worldwide phenomenon cutting across political affiliations. This is because you don’t need to be a leftist to understand that in contemporary conditions, pursuing a higher education is both the only guarantee to economic security, and the one thing that may be denied to you if you are from the wrong side of the tracks. 

We post below statements from #OccupyUGC and #Occupy SOAS in support of each other. These have been sent to us by Akash Bhattacharya, research scholar in history at JNU.

Continue reading We agree passionately: one world, one struggle, education is not for sale!

What Communal Attacks And Our Own Blindness have Cost Us: Thoughts for Malayalees on the Eve of Panchayat Elections

On the eve of the panchayat elections in Kerala, I can’t help noticing how different it has been this time. Every time, the build-up to voting day includes heated debates about the state of the local bodies and discussions on the promises made by political parties. Not that it was completely absent this time, but somehow it appeared that such questions were hardly on people’s minds. The coming of decentralized governance in the mid-1990s divided the political field in Kerala into two:  ‘local governance’ and ‘high politics’ involved very different conceptions of power, authority, and agency. Welfarism, now also reimagined in terms of self-help, was moved into the former, while the latter remained the more decisive arena of political activity and authority. However, given that the space on local governance was crucial to the poor in that welfare entitlements flowed through it, it remained a key area of public concern. Over the years, from Plachimada to Vilappilsala, the local bodies even seemed to form sites around which resistance to top-down destructive ‘development’ could take shape. Each election was an opportunity to take stock of this large network of institutions which despite all the flaws remained quite decisively important to the lives of the poor in Kerala. In fact, it is worth noting that the elections were the occasions in which the better-off sections paid relatively more attention to local bodies and even set aside their cynicism and reluctance to engage. Not so, this time, I can’t help feeling. Continue reading What Communal Attacks And Our Own Blindness have Cost Us: Thoughts for Malayalees on the Eve of Panchayat Elections

Workers right to unionize being trampled upon in yet another factory in Manesar: Report

Report on the protest by automobile workers in Manesar by BIGUL MAZDOOR DASTA AND AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY CONTRACT WORKERS UNION

 

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On the morning of 18 September 2015 when the workers employed in the Bridgestone company reached their factory gates they were met with Police officers and hired bouncers at the gate. When the workers tried to enter the factory premises they were resisted by the uniformed and the non-uniformed goons of the Factory Management. The Police beat up the workers and prevented them from entering the premises of the factory in spite of having a court order for tool down and without any prior notice the workers were sacked by the company. More than 400 workers employed in Bridgestone Factory in Manesar have been unlawfully sacked by the Company authorities after the workers demanded to get their Union registered. The workers are currently protesting outside the factory and have gathered there to raise their voice against the injustice and oppression that they are facing at the hands of the factory management.

Continue reading Workers right to unionize being trampled upon in yet another factory in Manesar: Report

Comrade Chintamani: Faridabad Mazdoor Samachar

This is a guest post from Faridabad Mazdoor Samachar (FMS), a monthly workers’ newspaper published from Majdoor Library

This appeared in Hindi in August 2015, New Series 326 and has been translated into English  by Pratik Ali and Sheena Jain.

In the early hours of 31st July, Comrade Chintamani passed away.

Saathi Chintamani was born in the village Mustafabad Saraiyya of Kadipur tehsil, Sultanpur district in eastern Uttar Pradesh. He studied till class 12th. Rejected tempting offers for converting to another religion, he joined as an impounding official in the Department of Agriculture, Uttar Pradesh government. While he was on duty once, realizing dues, he thrashed some people for insulting him over his caste. To avoid upper-caste backlash, he left his permanent job and moved to some relatives at Faridabad. After working for a month or two each at Bata, Goodyear, Dabur, Escorts, etc., he became a permanent worker in Gedore Tools. Together with the job, he was active in politics of caste of the Ambedkarite current. Long conversations with Com. Vijay Shankar of neighboring Babripur village strengthened his grip upon the new reality of having become, and of being, a wage-worker.

In 1977 wage-worker stirrings intensified greatly in Faridabad, and Saathi Chintamani was very active in them. He lent special support to the militant workers of Usha Spinning and Weaving Mill and the Bharatiya Electric Steel Factories. He was among those who left eighty unions to form Majdoor Sangharsh Samiti (Workers’ Struggle Committee). In 1979, many workers were killed in police firing in Faridabad. After internal emergency was lifted in 1977, Com. Vijay Shankar was dismissed from his job for his role in the Delhi Faridabad Textile (DFT) strikes. Wage-workers from Bata, Gedore, Poritts & Spencer, Electricity Board, Handa Steel, East India Cotton Mills, Orient Steel, Leatherite, etc. got together with Com. Vijay Shankar at Azad Nagar jhuggi (shanties) and Mujesar for collective study of Karl Marx’s book, ‘Capital’. Saathi Chintamani was among them.

Continue reading Comrade Chintamani: Faridabad Mazdoor Samachar

Praful Bidwai Is No More

Praful Bidwai is no more. He died in Amsterdam on Tuesday evening due to a cardiac arrest, With his death we have lost the ‘best left-wing journalist’ in this part of South Asia whose articles appeared in many newspapers and magazines in the subcontinent and in the middle east and was frequently published by The Guardian, Le Monde Diplomatique as well. Praful will be missed by thousands and thousands of his readers (this pen pusher included) who were ‘groomed’ by him in a career spanning more than four decades. For them he was one such voice who remained uncompromising in his strident criticism of communal fundamentalisms of various kinds and the crony capitalism which is having a field day these days. He was a leading voice for nuclear disarmament and peace as well and had written extensively on it. It was a strange coincidence that we met last in the capital when a memorial meeting was organised by Communist Party of India to remember the legendary Comrade Govind Pansare who was assassinated few days back. He was to speak in the meeting. The meeting was yet to start and I could steal some time to talk to him. He told he is working on a book – which was near completion – on the left movement in the country and had interviewed many activists associated with the movement to listen to their understanding of challenges before the left. And in that connection he had long meeting with Com Pansare – once in Kolhapur and one possibly in Mumbai. He shared his fascination about the energies he still had at that age for ‘the cause’. Few days after the meeting, there was a call from him asking for a phone number of a dalit activist which incidentally I did not have. Yes, that was the last time I spoke to him.

Continue reading Praful Bidwai Is No More

Remembering People’s Historian Amalendu Guha (1924-2015): Bonojit Hussain and Mayur Chetia

Guest post by BONOJIT HUSSAIN and MAYUR CHETIA

A Tribute and a Bibliography

স্বৰ্গত ৰুচি নাই, যাওঁ মই ভাটিখানালৈ

জুৱাৰী-মদপী-বেশ্যা-সিহঁতকো মেলত গোটাই

মনৰ চিতাৰ ছাই উৰুৱাই গাওঁ আশাবৰী :

আকাশত উৰা মাৰে জাকে জাকে ফিনিক্স চৰাই !

Amalendu Guha
Amalendu Guha

I have no desire for heaven,

Instead I go to the brewhouse,

Gamblers, drunkards, prostitutes – bringing them together

I sing of hope, sprinkling ashes from my soul’s pyre:

In flocks the phoenix flies to the sky.

  • “মোৰ কবিতা / My Poetry” Amalendu Guha 1960

Continue reading Remembering People’s Historian Amalendu Guha (1924-2015): Bonojit Hussain and Mayur Chetia

CPI(M)’s 21st Congress – A Schizophrenic Outcome: Prasenjit Bose

Guest post by PRASENJIT BOSE

Lost on the high seas?,
Lost on the high seas? Image courtesy CPI(M) 21st Congress site

Far from transparently and decisively resolving the issues which plague the Party and the Left movement in India, the twenty first Congress of the CPI(M) has yielded a schizophrenic outcome. The purported ‘political line’ adopted by the Party Congress and the ‘unanimous’ choice of the new general secretary are quite contradictory, which will only perpetuate the ideological-political incoherence that has gripped the CPI(M) and may further contribute to its organizational disarray.

When the central committee of the CPI(M) met in October 2014 to discuss a medium term ‘review of the political tactical line’ (PTL) in the light of the electoral reverses suffered by the Party, a politbureau (PB) member had moved a dissent note on the document presented by the PB. That note had argued against the very need to review the PTL and had instead held faulty implementation of the political line driven by ‘subjectivism’ of the leadership mainly responsible for the setbacks suffered by the CPI(M), alongside persistent organizational deficiencies. The elevation of the dissident voice within the outgoing politbureau as the new general secretary of the party raises the question whether the ‘review of the political tactical line’ and ‘political resolution’ adopted in the Congress have the support of the majority within the party? Or will the ‘political line’ adopted in the Party Congress give way over time to political opportunism in the name of ‘flexible tactics’, with the CPI(M) joining hands with the discredited, anti-people Congress in the name of fighting the communal, big corporate-backed, reactionary Modi regime? Continue reading CPI(M)’s 21st Congress – A Schizophrenic Outcome: Prasenjit Bose

Whatever happened to 15-M Movement? Atharva Pandit

Guest post by ATHARVA PANDIT

[Against the background of Spain’s recent criminalizing of public protests and the first ever hologram demonstration (see Kafila post by Geeta Seshu) against it, this article revisits the major eruption in 2011, that eventually laid the ground for the emergence of a new political force in Spanish politics]

15M, image courtesy El Tecolote
15M, image courtesy El Tecolote

Spain, seems to be a country that is still shaping itself. Somewhat like a nation that wants to come to terms with its past, unlike many other countries that have gone through a traumatic history and have finally emerged through the political passions – admittedly misdirected – of their distant past. Spain seems like it is yet to come to terms with a civil war that forged its legacy in millions of Spanish minds and the future generations of the country. The fascist forces that staged a coup, and consequently, went on to purge about 150,000 of its citizens in summary executions, far surpassed some of the worst dictatorships that the world has witnessed, including that of Pinochet’s in Chile and of Videla’s in Argentina.

Continue reading Whatever happened to 15-M Movement? Atharva Pandit

An Interview on the Continuing Relevance of Marx

The following is an interview with PRADIP BAKSI, an independent Marx scholar based in Kolkata. He has translated and edited some of the notes and manuscripts of Karl Marx on mathematics and on the history of land relations in India. He has also written on Marx’s study of some of the natural sciences and technologies of his time. The interview was conducted by SANKAR RAY, a senior journalist based in Kolkata.

Sankar Ray [SR]: What are your views on the relevance of Marx for India today, in the context of the financial crisis continuing since 2008, a certain renewal of interest in Marx’s Capital and, of late in Piketty’s Capital for the 21st Century?

Pradip Baksi [PB]: Despite the echo of the title of Marx’s famous book in the title of Piketty’s bestseller, the latter is an exercise within one of the currently fashionable strands of Marx-innocent political economy. In contrast Marx’s Capital is a part of an unfinished and incomplete program of critique of political economy, proposing a continuous reconstruction of it as a science.

While marshalling a very large and interesting dataset on growing inequality within contemporary capitalism, Piketty proposes to make that inequality bearable through taxation within future capitalism, and thereby holds a brief for that very capitalism. Marx, it is true, left his critique of political economy incomplete and unfinished, but he never held any brief for capitalism.

The ongoing financial crisis has triggered some interest in these two books in some quarters. This financial crisis and this interest may or may not last long. I do not wish to speculate about that. The questions of relevance or otherwise of Marx for India, and for the rest of the world, however, are questions of a different order. Continue reading An Interview on the Continuing Relevance of Marx

The Sin and the Error : Ravi Sinha

Guest Post by RAVI SINHA

…it takes an error to father a sin. ─ J. Robert Oppenheimer[1]

Future historians of India may well describe the past year as a year of political sin. This was the year in which the man who had earlier presided over the Gujarat Carnage was awarded the ultimate prize. The year saw an election that touched a new low marked by shallowness, vulgarities and lies – in no small measure by the labors of the man himself. Equally appalling have been the exertions of a large class of literati and glitterati to portray philistinism and inanities spouted by the most powerful mouth as wisdom of a visionary leader.

An entire country seems to have gone blind – unable to see that the emperor has no clothes. In this age of incessant television it should be obvious to anyone that the supreme leader does not carry conviction even when enunciating relatively higher banalities. He is at his natural best only when he mocks someone as a shehzada or slanders and vilifies an entire community through phrases such as ame paanch, amara pachees. It is an irony of history that the republic which had Nehru as its first prime minister has one now for whom even common mythology is too cerebral. He must vulgarize Pushpak Viman and Ganesha and reduce them to quackeries of aviation and surgery.

Misfortune of the nation goes beyond the man. Forces of the diabolic housed in the hydra-headed Parivaar can now accomplish the impossible. They can now occupy the political center stage without leaving off the lunatic fringe. They can adopt Gandhi without renouncing Godse; erect world’s tallest statue of a leader who had punished their forefathers for assassinating Gandhi; even co-opt Bhagat Singh without batting an eyelid about what he stood for and what he had to say about ideologies like theirs. They can further refine the art of doublespeak. Their “statesmen” can pave the way for corporate plunder and call it sab ka vikas (development for all). Their “ideologues” can advocate sab ka saath (inclusion of all) by exhorting Hindu women to give birth to a minimum of four children each, lest Hindus are reduced to a minority “in their own country”. Continue reading The Sin and the Error : Ravi Sinha

While “Exposing 300 days of Modi’s Rule”, Let us not fall into the Trappings of Old Congress Style Politics: Nayan Jyoti

Guest Post by Nayan Jyoti

SOME QUESTIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF MASS ORGANISATIONS OF CPI(ML)LIBERATION, CPI, CPI(M) & OTHERS INVITING CONGRESS, RJD, JD(U) TO DEFEND ‘SECULARISM, INDIAN CONSTITUTION, INDIAN NATIONALISM’

Janta Dal (United) leader Ali Anwar, in an ‘united’ program in Jantar Mantar on 19th March had a frank admission to make in the first 15 minutes of his speech: “Elections ki hi baat se shuru kare, to haan, hum sab milkar Modi ko harayenge” (“If we begin with the question of elections, yes, we will unite to defeat Modi together”). He was indicating a plain and simple ‘unity’ of convenience for elections, of a converging pole in Indian politics. He indicated: “Bihar assembly elections are waiting to happen.” He of course, remembered the theme of ‘secularism’ for the event and said, “now I will say a few ideological things” and did utter a few lines against the BJP-RSS.

Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on 19th March thus saw a (not very?) strange unity. Various “civil society and secular political parties, victims, artists, intellectuals” came together to organize an Exposing 300 days of Modi’s Rule program. Many of the organizers included mass organisations of the Left like AISA, AICCTU, AIPWA connected with CPI(ML)Liberation, and SFI, AIDWA, CITU, DYFI, AILU connected with CPI(M), and AITUC, NFIW, PWA related to CPI, among others. In these dark times of achhe din, where unity and collaboration of various left, democratic and progressive forces has come up with renewed necessity to fight the present regime, it becomes important for us to interrogate such attempts without any sectarianism. An important question that requires asking here is the basis of these ‘Unities’ and Forums being variously attempted. ‘Unity’ is definitely required in these times of combined attack of brutal neoliberal and communal attack, but standing on what ground, and in what direction? Continue reading While “Exposing 300 days of Modi’s Rule”, Let us not fall into the Trappings of Old Congress Style Politics: Nayan Jyoti

Remembering Nishith Bhattacharya, unsung revolutionary hero: Basu Acharya

Guest pots by BASU ACHARYA

The morning of February 15th this year was exceptionally grim. The sun looked pale, its rays mangled, as if somebody had scratched its face with a scalpel blade of tempered steel. Ramakrishna Naskar lane, an obscure by-lane in Beleghata area of Kolkata, was suddenly bustling with unusual activity. A number of people, quite a few in fact, irrespective of the nature of the red flags they carry, had gathered before a modest dwelling; assembled to bid adieu (with clenched fists and the ‘Internationale’ on their lips) to an old man, an octogenarian, wrapped in a crimson cloth with a crossed hammer and sickle in white. Prof. NB, our very own Nishith-da, Comrade Nishith Bhattacharya was no more. Leaving his mortal remains for the pyre to consume and his comrades to weep over, he had left for the final voyage—journey ‘to the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns’.

My association with Nishith-da dates back to the early years of the past decade when India, like many other ‘developing countries’ of the world, was passing through the initial days of the second information revolution. I, then an activist of a tiny student-youth organisation, met him on the book-fair ground at Maidan and asked scores of questions about Naxalbari and related topics. Most surprisingly, he, without a slightest mark of impatience on his face, answered each question with brutal accuracy and won my heart. From then onwards I was his admirer, also his disciple, who could even dispose of his own thumb—if asked. There are so many fond memories such as this, and as I scribble this piece, old thoughts crowd my mind and the panorama of our decade-long association appear before my eyes. But honestly speaking, it will be absolutely criminal if we limit a man of Nishith-da’s stature to any personal reminiscence. Rather, it is better to tell the story of his life and time in considerable length and as dispassionately as possible, for history should be impartial nay objective.

Continue reading Remembering Nishith Bhattacharya, unsung revolutionary hero: Basu Acharya

Bread and Roses in Kerala today – the Kalyan Sarees Women Workers’ Struggle, and an Appeal on Women’s Day-Eve: Malavika Narayan

This is a Guest post by MALAVIKA NARAYAN

Drive through any road in Kerala, one sees enormous showrooms of silks and jewellery, glittering with all the riches they contain.

Who says that the Kerala model of development is slow on growth and only high on human indicators? The most literate ‘progressive’ state is evidently doing well enough in business and investment too it would seem. We are also an expanding consumer market now, willing to finally shed some of that humility and simplicity once perceived to be characteristic of us. We have what claims to be Asia’s biggest mall, and other international chains setting shop here. In Maveli’s land, there really appear to be no poor or oppressed who would destroy this image of perfection. Continue reading Bread and Roses in Kerala today – the Kalyan Sarees Women Workers’ Struggle, and an Appeal on Women’s Day-Eve: Malavika Narayan

Condemn Communal Violence in Kozhikode Village: Concerned Citizens

We  strongly condemn the unprecedented communal violence at the end of January 2015, in Tuneri, Vellur and Kodanjeri villages, Nadapuram in Kozhikode, Kerala, in which more than a hundred Muslim families and homes were singled out, attacked, and crores worth of property destroyed. We are utterly horrified and outraged that violence of this extent has received scant attention from the media — electronic, print or even social.

On 22 January 2015, a local murder was instantly transformed into a communal conflict. Shibin Bhaskaran, a 19-year-old DYFI activist, resident of Vellur, a village dominated by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) — CPI(M) — was stabbed to death by an Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) activist Teyyampadi Ismayil. Ismayil, who openly claimed responsibility for the murder on that very night, is known to have criminal antecedents and was once jailed for six months in accordance with the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 34/2007. The aftermath of this cold-blooded murder, a personal settling of scores between two individuals, was instantly communalised, and in a manner that is reminiscent of communal violence in other parts of the country, especially in Muzaffarnagar 2013.

Read more at   : http://www.epw.in/letters/communal-violence-kozhikode-village.html 

G Arunima, P K Yasser Arafath, K Satchidanandan, Kavita Krishnan, Jairus Banaji, G Haragopal, Shabnam Hashmi, J Devika, Trupti Shah, Jyotirmay Sharma, Upinder Singh, B Rajeevan, C R Neelakandan, Kumkum Roy,
A K Ramakrishnan, Ajay Gudavarthi and others

An Election of Hope Versus Fear

Yes it’s a simplistic dichotomy, but there is really no better way to describe the current Delhi elections. On the one hand, a little ragtag army of Davids behind “Mufflerman”, as his faithful supporters affectionately call him, a person in baggy sweater and sneakers, one you wouldn’t look at twice if you passed him on the road.

Mufflerman Business Standard

  Kejriwal

On the other hand, a massively funded, aggressively confident Goliath, openly backed by the corporate bodies and full-page ads, riding a  national “Wave” higher than most Tsunamis, topped by the 56-inch chest of “Modiman”, even if recently modestly covered by a 12-lakh rupee vest.

56-inch Modi78c0d4d3-be9e-4afb-b034-1247529df720wallpaper1

On the one hand, a fearful and awed media establishment donating PR for free to the seemingly invincible King of Gujarat, and on the other, an aam aadmi, a volunteer-cadre run campaign and a palpable vibe of trust and openness on the ground. I know I know, some will say it’s all ‘perception management’ and PR, but barring the googly of the 2 crores party donation thrown at the opportune moment, if Mufflerman’s party was any cleaner, it could have given Lalita ji’s Surf a run for its money. Whatever the result on the 10th (and there is reason to be hawk-eyed about the possibility of tampering as Nivedita Menon’s post has urged), how does anybody not get what a miracle this alone is, in a political economy with a black economy of a size that is higher than the GDPs of most smaller countries? Perhaps this is in fact about hope and fear after all, however clichéd that sounds.

Continue reading An Election of Hope Versus Fear

The Success of Nilppu Samaram: The Victory of Democracy

This is a guest post by ASWATHY SENAN
The Nilppu Samaram (Standing Strike) by the Adivasis demanding their land rights started on 9-7-12 under the leadership of Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha (AGMS). The protesters stood for 162 days in front of the Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram. This protest saw the support and intervention of people from all age group from various caste and religious communities (not under the banner of any particular political party or religious organisation) most of whom came to the protest space and stood with them to mark their solidarity. The government had to budge at the end under the pressure of the non-violent democratic protest of the adivasis backed by the civil society and on the 163rd day the ended their standing after the Government of Kerala agreed to all their demands on paper.

Continue reading The Success of Nilppu Samaram: The Victory of Democracy